Dhaka, Sep 5 (bdnews24.com) — The BNP has praised former Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman terming him a 'reformer' and said it would be tough to get finance minister like him.
"Saifur Rahman was a reformer of Bangladesh's economy. We are worried that who would be the Finance Minister when BNP comes to power in future," party's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said on Wednesday on the third death anniversary of the former minister.
"It is very difficult to find another Finance Minister like Saifur Rahman," he added.
"But we are hopeful that 'Deshnetri' Khaleda Zia will find someone as capable and competent as Saifur Rahman to be our Finance Minister," he commented.
Bangladesh's longest-serving Finance Minister Saifur Rahman died in a road crash on Sep 5, 2009 on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway.
Born in Oct 6, 1932, he placed 12 national budgets at the Parliament during his tenures as Finance Minister.
A BNP standing committee member until his death, he joined the party as an adviser to its founder military strongman Ziaur Rahman. He first served as commerce minister in Zia's cabinet and then made finance minister.
After Zia's death, he served as Finance Minister during the general's widow Khaleda's term when BNP returned to power in 1991 and again in 2001.
Recalling the late minister's career, Alamgir said that before 1975, Bangladesh's economy had been turned into a "looting mechanism" with the introduction of one-party rule.
But BNP's founder former President Ziaur Rahman appointed Saifur Rahman Finance Minister and took Bangladesh towards development following open market economic policy, he said.
"He (Saifur) introduced VAT (value added tax) in Bangladesh though many had criticised it at the beginning," the BNP spokesperson said.
BNP's Standing Committee member, Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, said, "He (Saifur) was a true patriot Finance Minister. He built the base for the country's macro economic stability. During his tenure, Bangladesh had achieved a 7 percent economic growth."
Saifur Rahman was awarded the prestigious Ekushey Padak in 2005 for his role in the 1952 Language Movement.
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